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Hunter
:For a description of the role of hunters within the lore of Warcraft, see Hunter lore. For related articles, see Category:Hunters. Overview The Hunter class is a vicious damage dealer, but mainly at range. Hunters have pets that add to their DPS and help manage aggro. Hunters track, tame and slay animals and beasts found in the wild. Hunters consider their weapons and pets to be their only true friends. *Hunters tame wild beasts of Azeroth and Outland, training them to fight at their side. Hunters, along with Warlocks (Summonable Demonic Minions), Mages (Summon Water Elemental talent), Druids (Force of Nature Balance talent), Shamans (elemental summoning totems) and Priests (Shadowfiend spell) make up the six classes that can have combat pets. Hunters, however, are the only ones that can name and feed their pets; Warlock pets are automatically given names when they are initially summoned and their damage is unaffacted by "happiness". *Hunters excel in outdoor survival skills, such as tracking and laying traps. *Hunters wear leather and cloth armor until level 39. At level 40, they gain access to equipping Mail armor. Most Hunters start with an axe or dagger and a gun or bow. With training, they can learn all other weapon skills except wands, mace, and two-handed mace, and they are unable to use shields. *Hunters have many magical abilities that require mana, such as pet healing and special shots, but their mana pools are not as large as those of dedicated spellcasters. *Hunters can take on various Animal Aspects that grant special abilities, such as increased dodge, improved run speed, or even resistance. Races The Hunter class can be played by the following races: Alliance * Dwarves * Night Elves * Draenei Horde * Orcs * Tauren * Trolls * Blood Elves * The most obviously relevant racial traits to hunters include: Orc - Command (passive ability), which increases pet damage by 5% and the powerful Bloodfury ability. Troll - Bow Specialization (bow skill + 5). Dwarf - Gun Specialization (gun skill + 5) and Stoneform to counter various types of debuffs in PvP situations, as well as a few PvE situations. Night Elf - Shadowmeld enables the Hunter to take advantage of unsuspecting enemies in PvP as well as mobs in PvE. Tauren - Warstomp can help the Hunter escape from the "deadzone" (melee range). Draenei - Heroic Presence affects pets as well as other players. The other racial attributes can be useful, but may not be specifically relevant to hunters as a class. As always, research into all the racial traits of each race will make a player's decision better informed. Talents and Abilities Hunters have a vast range of talents and abilities. These can be roughly categorized into the following: Ranged Fighting Ranged fighting requires a choice between a gun, bow or a crossbow. When starting, this will depend on your race. Dwarves and Tauren are given guns, while Draenei start with crossbows, and the other races get bows. Later on, you can train to use the ranged weapons that aren't inherent to your race. In general, Crossbows are relatively slow, but hit harder and thus are favored for increasing burst damage, while guns are have relatively fast and good for steady grinding at the cost of using more ammunition than any other weapons. Bows have moderate attack speed and are favored for sustained DPS. Initially, weapon speed will be inconsequential since the only available abilities consist of Auto-shot and various instant casts. Engineers can craft some guns, but there are no craftable Bows or Crossbows, so most ranged upgrades will come from mob drops and quest rewards. Guns use bullets, while bows and crossbows use arrows. Different types of ammunition add different amounts of DPS; generally, the higher level you are, the higher DPS ammunition you can access. At level 70, several different qualities of ammo are available and you may often find yourself using different types of ammo for different situations. For example, relatively expensive Warden's Arrows are better suited to pushing raid encounters, while cheap, but lower DPS Blackflight Arrows are more economic for everyday grinding and PvP. Standard white quality Bullets and Arrows of varying DPS are available at most Innkeepers and almost all General Goods vendors as well as special city vendors. There is also special ammunition that can be crafted by Engineers or bought as reputation rewards; these kinds of projectiles are typically expensive and not very economical for everyday use. Adamantite Shells can be made by Engineers and are the second best bullets that you can use. The Halaa ammunition vendor sells the best blue quality projectiles, but you can only hold up to 200 (a single stack) at a time. Warden's Arrows are an equivalent to the Adamantite Shells that are somewhat cheaper but they require revered reputation with the Cenarion Expedition; they are sold in Zangarmarsh. Epic quality ammunition is also available via Scale of the Sands reputation: Timeless Arrows and Timeless Shells. They are statistically the best ammunition in the game, but are presently unobtainable. For further information see the Hunter Tactics page. Stings Like Warlocks with their curses, hunters have Stings, which are specialized debuffs to help them address specific situations. * Scorpid Sting - Reduces melee and ranged chance to hit by 5%. * Serpent Sting - Causes nature damage over time. * Viper Sting - Drains mana over time. * Wyvern Sting - Sleeps target and causes damage over time afterwards. (Survival Talent) Shots Hunters also make heavy use of special shots to supplement their DPS and provide utility to their groups. * Distracting Shot - A non-damaging shot that only causes threat, good for aggroing a crowd-controlled target without breaking the effect. * Multi-Shot - A shot that also damages the nearest two targets within 8 yards. This shot can be chained around corners to hit targets that are out of line of sight. It also serves as a way of breaking multiple mobs off of your pet or other players. * Tranquilizing Shot - Dispels Frenzy effects used by certain mobs. * Arcane Shot - A shot that inflicts magic damage, bypassing armor and physical damage shields. It also bypasses magic reflects, making it the most consistent damaging attack. * Aimed Shot - A high damage opener gained through talents that is useful for pulling, especially in conjunction with Misdirection, which places the hunter's threat on a specific ally. * Scatter Shot - Puts a 4-second disorient effect on the target. It is the only ranged attack aside from Volley that can be used in the Hunter's dead zone, but is limited to 30 yards. Also inflicts small damage. Melee Fighting While Hunters are primarily a ranged class, they do possess some Melee abilities. They are no where near as powerful as the abilities of a true melee class such as a Rogue or Warrior, but they are still useful in situations where the target cannot be hit with ranged attacks. The general goal in using these moves is to continue inflicting damage while attempting to open distance, hence these abilities have limited uses, cooldowns, or are some kind of movement impairment effect. * Raptor Strike - A special swing that does increased melee damage. * Wing Clip - An instant attack that slows the target for 4 seconds while inflicting a very small amount of damage. * Mongoose Bite - An attack available after dodging a melee swing, does moderate damage. * Counter-attack - Available through Survival Talents, unavoidable root effect on the target, available after being parried in melee. Combat Pets Pets are the most important tools in the hands of a hunter. They serve as aggro-management (at higher levels pets will have difficulties holding aggro, unless the hunter is a Beast Mastery Talent Specced Hunter) additional DPS and tanking. Many beasts can be tamed and each offers a set of unique available active skills (there are special abilities just for wolves, just for cats, etc). In addition, certain pet types are tanking oriented (such as bears), and others are DPS oriented (such as cats and owls). Combined with the diversity of armor, stamina and Resistance buffs, it allows quite a great deal of customization. Many hunters have dedicated pets for specific instances, PVP, tanking, and so on. Hunters can start taming pets at level 10 by completing a short series of quests. They are able to control the pet through various commands. Although hunters can only have one active pet at a time, the stable can be used to house up to 2 additional pets. See more at Hunter's pets. Traps Hunters have five different types of traps available for use. Some Traps are a source of Crowd Control, while others can be a source of damage. Traps have a 30 second cooldown, and a 2 second arming time. * Explosive Trap - Causes initial Fire damage and damage over time to multiple targets within a short radius of the explosion. * Freezing Trap - Freezes a single target. * Frost Trap - Slows multiple targets within the ice slick area. * Immolation Trap - Causes Fire damage over time to a single target. * Snake Trap - Spawns snakes to attack any hostile target that is attacking you. The Snakes will cause 1 of 3 poisons.(Warning: These can aggro the same as any mob) Aspects Hunters have seven aspects at their disposal. Only one aspect may be active at a time. * Aspect of the Beast - Makes the hunter untrackable on the minimap. * Aspect of the Cheetah - Increases thr Hunter's movement speed by 30% (+8% with BM talent). * Aspect of the Hawk - Increases ranged attack power. * Aspect of the Monkey - Increases the Hunter's chance to dodge by 8% (+6% with BM talent). * Aspect of the Pack - Increases the movement speed of the Hunter's party members by 30% (+8% with BM talent). * Aspect of the Viper - Continuously restores mana equivilant to 25% of the Hunter's intellect every 5 seconds. * Aspect of the Wild - Increases Nature resistance of the Hunter and his/her party members. Tracking Hunters can track eight different types of units. Only one tracking ability may be active at a time, which includes the tracking for mining veins and herbs. * Track Beasts * Track Demons * Track Dragonkin * Track Elementals * Track Giants * Track Hidden * Track Humanoids * Track Undead Hunter Talents Talents are a way to specialize your character by enhancing your skills and/or learning new skills. From level 10 onwards you will receive a talent point every time you gain a level. There are three categories for Hunter Talents: *Beast Mastery *Marksmanship *Survival For further information see Hunter Talents, Hunter Talent Discussion, or go to the WoW Talent Calculator. Attributes Armor Hunters can use Cloth Armor and Leather Armor initially. At level 40 they can train to use Mail Armor. Hunter Armor Sets The Hunter's Armor sets are as follows: * Beaststalker Armor (Dungeon Set 1) * Beastmaster Armor (Dungeon Set 2) * Giantstalker Armor (Tier 1) * Dragonstalker Armor (Tier 2) * Striker's Garb (Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, requires Brood of Nozdormu reputation, and the specific quest armaments) (Tier 2.5) * Cryptstalker Armor (Tier 3) * Beast Lord Armor (Dungeon Set 3 - Pet-Bonus Set) * Desolation Battlegear (Dungeon Set 3 - DPS Set) * Demon Stalker Armor (Tier 4) * Rift Stalker Armor (Tier 5) The below are not of the following tier sets: * Predator's Armor (Zul'Gurub, requires Zandalar Tribe reputation) * Trappings of the Unseen Path (Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, requires Cenarion Circle reputation) Weapons Hunters are capable of learning how to use Bows, Guns, Crossbows, Thrown Weapons, Daggers, Axes, Fist Weapons, Swords, Polearms, Staves, Two-Handed Axes and Two-Handed Swords. The only weapons they cannot use are Wands and one-handed and two-handed Maces. Upon reaching level 20, Hunters can learn the Dual Wield skill. A comprehensive list of the best ranged weapons a Hunter can use at level 60, along with detailed information about them (up to date as of patch 1.10 when Hunters have been normalized), can be found at http://www.groovylick.com/wow/28nerf2.gif. (This list does not contain any Burning Crusade information at this time.) A comprehensive list of the best melee weapons a Hunter can use at level 60, along with detailed information about their effect on ranged damage, can be found at http://wow.stoneform.org/hunterweapons.jpg. (This list does not contain any Burning Crusade information at this time.) A derivation of the above hunter weapon link is also available at: http://hometown.aol.com/tahlvain/Surv.html and one for hunters without Lightning Reflexes http://hometown.aol.com/tahlvain/Marks.html. Starting Stats Attribute Conversions Burning Crusade changes New Pets and Abilities The expansion will offer several new pets and abilities. Beta information can be found at http://petopia.brashendeavors.net/. Traps can be set during combat Traps can now be set during combat. This opens a whole new role to hunters as a crowd controller, as hunters can now chain trap a mob and don't have to rely on Feign Death to "escape" from combat. Notices Always keep an eye on your bullets or arrows; you don't want to run out of ammo in the middle of a fight. Never be afraid to bring extra ammunation if needed. In combat, '''hunters' have the ability to quickly remove all the threat they have generated on a target via Feign Death. In the majority of boss fights, you won't be out of combat for more or less than 1 to 3 seconds. As a hunter, you use a lot of bullets or arrows. It's more cost-effective to buy them at a vendor than to craft them or buy them on the auction house. At level 60, Wicked Arrows are the strongest arrows you can buy. Doomshot and Miniature Cannon Balls deal more damage but are only dropped in instances so are mainly reserved for boss fights. Pets in instances should be controlled smartly and kept an eye on carefully; one wrong click can very well get you - and the party or even raid - killed. You should set your pet on passive mode as well as disabling autocast for Growl and any other AoE abilities to be secure. The "OMG HUNTER LOOT" / That's a Hunter weapon! : jokes exists for a reason. Don't forget that you share your gear class with many other classes, both before and beyond level 40. It's very unlikely that you're the only person who needs any given drop. With ranged weapons, you may get competition with other classes if they do not respect your class well. End-Game Expectations With longer range, pets, and Feign Death abilities, Hunters are often counted on to be the primary puller in end-game raids such as Molten Core and Blackwing Lair, where you will be expected to know how and when to pull. These pulls require finesse, and are usually more than simply shooting something to gain aggro and bringing it back to the tank; many Hunters are expected to understand the mechanics of hate management and how to allow for the tank to garner more hate from a taunt. At level 70, a Hunter can learn Misdirection, an ability that 'plants' hate from their other abilities onto a target of their choice (likely to be the tank); a smart hunter should be able to make the most use of this. A Hunter's pet will be expected to be trained in the appropriate Resistances for any given encounter, such as Fire Resistance for Molten Core for example. In addition, a Beast Mastery-skilled Hunter will be expected to know how and when (and when not to) use their pet against every mob the raid will encounter. For this reason, expect to select and bring a pet that benefits the raid in some way (for example, a wolf-type pet for Furious Howl to increase party melee damage or ranged damage, a Wind Serpent that can attack from ranged distance beside the hunter, or even a pet designed for taking damage for off-tanking). A Hunter's primary responsibility in nearly all raid encounters is to provide a high amount of DPS over a sustained period of time. To do this in a raid setting, you will need to know when to use Feign Death in order erase the amount of aggro you have dealt to the creature before you gain more aggro than the raid's primary tank, and then resume the state of high DPS. You will also need a large mana pool and know how to effectively and efficiently use your abilities without running out of mana too quickly. Mana regen from items such as the Black Grasp of the Destroyer and abilities such as Aspect of the Viper can help you accomplish this fine balance of mana management and high DPS. In some cases you will be asked to Kite one or more creatures that either cannot or should not be killed during a specific encounter, allowing the rest of the raid to focus on other needs in order defeat the objective. Kiting is a skill that is best accomplished by Hunters because of their Aspect of the Cheetah, pets, and armor rating (Mages are quite skilled at snare/root kiting, but few instances require such a technique and is intense in its use of mana) and requires alot of practice. While kiting, you will need to shoot your target with instant abilities, and often use speed boosts (such as the movement speed enchantment for foot gear, speed potions, and/or using Aspect of the Cheetah). Kiting, for most hunters, is the hardest skill to learn, yet is considered by many to be the most important skill. PvP Hunters wishing to participate in end-game PvP will find any of the talent trees help them towards their goals of massive player destruction! In Beast Mastery, a PvP-Hunter will find the skills of Intimidation, Bestial Wrath (to include The Beast Within), and a deadly pet worthy of causing constant havoc (especially to casters); a 'BM' Hunter would be considered ill-equipped in PvP without them. The Marksman tree skills of Improved Concussive Shot, Mortal Shots, Barrage, Improved Barrage, Concussive Barrage are all excallent in a PvP setting, with the skills of Lethal Shots, Scatter Shot and Silencing Shot being considered "must haves" within the tree. These talents in the tree enables the Hunter to inflict immense Burst damage. Finally, the Survival Hunter has many tricks that allow them to escape the deadzone as well as dish out the pain, with such skill as Humanoid Slaying, Savage Strikes, Deterrence & Counterattack, and Master Tactician, followed by the "can't do without" skills of Hawk Eye, Improved Wing Clip, Entrapment, Survivalist, Killer Instinct, and Readiness topping the charts. Some of these skills are considered universal abilities that should be in any PvP-Hunter talent build, no matter which tree you put the majority of your points into. These include Hawk Eye, which allows you to do damage from farther away, as well as Entrapment, which used with Frost Trap, can turn the tide of an entire battle if used strategically, and Lethal Shots, which provides a sizable increase to your critical hit rate for only 5 points into Marksman. Hunters excel at taking out soft targets like Warlocks, Priests, and Mages from a distance, and should do so before moving on to hard targets such as Warriors and Paladins, though if a Rogue is observed it is the Hunter who is best equipped to track and expose the Rogue. Useful 2.0 Macros Simply sends your pet to attack while casting hunter's mark and triggers auto shot: /petattack /cast Hunter's Mark /startattack This will pick your target if you don't have one, mark it, send in the pet and start to shoot all on one button: /targetenemy noharm /stopmacro noharm /petattack /cast Hunter's Mark /startattack This macro will call your pet if you do not have one, otherwise it attempts to cast Revive Pet: /cast nopet Call Pet; Revive Pet Example pet feeding macro: /cast nocombat Feed Pet /use nocombat,pet:Cat Roasted Quail /use nocombat,pet:Bat Deep Fried Plantains See also: Useful macros/Hunter See also See Starting a Hunter for some advice when starting out. See the Hunter Category for further information on the Hunter class. See Hunter PvP Tactics for PvP advice. See Hunter Talent Discussion for information on common Hunter Talent Builds. See Hunter resist guide for advice on choosing and getting resistance gear. See Hunter weapons for a list of viable 1/2 handed melee hunter weapons to improve your ranged damage A wide selection of good information can be read online at official WoW forums. External Links *Good Intentions pet abilities table *Petopia *TKA Something *WoW Hunter Pets *Hunter Burning Crusade PVP Clips - Beast Mastery Spec *A forum for help and strategy, by Hunters for Hunters ---- Category:Classes Category:Hunters Category:Hunter Abilities